(_b_) This is accounted for by the more excellent workmanship in the construction of the ruins of the elliptical type, which have far broader foundations, are more massive, have a decided batter-back both inside and outside, bonded courses, the blocks of each course being more carefully selected, and the summits tied with “throughs,” while the angular type of ruins, with their plumb walls built on straight lines, with independent faces either side and carelessly filled-in interiors, and a less superior workmanship, have caused these walls to suffer more than the older type of ruins. (_c_) Walls built on curved lines are in a far better state of preservation than those built on straight lines, the curves having served to strengthen the walls. (_d_) Rounded ends of walls and rounded buttresses have proved to be far more durable than angular ends or squared buttresses, though most of these latter erections are obviously of a later date. (_e_) The portions of divisional walls near main walls are in a better state of preservation than the other portions which are in the open parts of the ruins. This is owing to the protection and support of the larger walls. Many of the divisional walls are practically independent, and therefore more liable to collapse, but if not independent the number of entrances passing through them practically makes them such. • • • • • _Dilapidations._—At Zimbabwe both the ravages of time, as well as preventable damage during the last decade, have brought about the wholesale destruction of walls as seen to-day in their dilapidated condition. This is the plaint of all who have known the ruins since the time of the occupation. These all bemoan the fact that on each renewed visit to the ruins some wall is found to have disappeared, or some new bulging out of the massive structures threatens serious and immediate destruction, which no amount of lateral support or pinning up can now possibly prevent. Many such visitors complain that the decorative patterns are becoming less perfect. Photographs show this to be the case. In fact, so much dilapidation has taken place within the last few years that it is a common remark of pioneers that “the ruins are becoming less and less every year,” while intense disappointment and vexation are expressed by “old hands” when they revisit the temple after an interval of a few years at the serious reduction in the height of the Conical Tower. Photographs of the tower taken as recently as 1896 represent the summit as being higher than is seen to-day, while almost every photograph taken within the last two or three years of any single part of these ruins shows portions, if not the whole, of walls, with their distinctive features that have completely disappeared. To those who venerate these ancient edifices nothing can be sadder than a comparison of the ruins as seen to-day with the ruins as they were some years ago.